Aris goes out strong at home against Milan

Aris Thessaloniki showed its pride by downing group leader EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 83-68 in its last Eurocup game this season on Wednesday. Aris finished Last 32 Group J with a 3-3 record, tied for second place with ALBA Berlin, but was eliminated from the next round for a five-point difference in the German team's favor in the two home wins they split in games against each other. Jamelle Hagins led Aris with 15 points on 7-for-10 two-point accuracy. Jerel McNeal, Dominic Waters and Okaro White followed with 12 each while Spyros Mourtos added 11. Milan got 14 points from Rakim Sanders, 12 from Andrea Cinciarini and 11 each from Milan Macvan and Krunoslav Simon. Milan fell to 4-2 but had already clinched first place and will still have home-court advantage as it faces Banvit Bandirma in the upcoming Eurocup Eighthfinals, which begin on February 23 and 24.

The lead changed early and often until Slaven Cupkovic's triple sparked a 7-2 Aris run and McNeal kept it going to a 17-13 advantage. Sanders struck from deep then to get Milan within a point, but Hagins helped stretched the difference to 5 points and Cupkovic helped keep it there, 26-21, with another long-range strike to end the first quarter. Triples by Oliver Lafayette and Charles Jenkins helped Milan seize the lead again, 28-31, early in the second. Waters led Aris's response as the scoreboard swung again and Spyros Mourtos capped the surge with a triple at 41-36. However, Milan rallied again behind Simon, who's buzzer-beater supplied the visitors with a 46-47 edge at halftime.
Jamel McLean's only basket and a Sanders triple to open the second half completed Milan's 5-17 takeover run to lead 46-53. Aris returned quickly with 2 triples from White and another from Theodoros Zaras in six-minute 16-0 run to lead 62-53. Cinciarini ended Milan's drought with 5 points that cut the difference to 62-59. But Waters righted the hosts and Cupkovic returned with another shot from the arc for a 68-59 Aris lead after 30 minutes. A pair of baskets by Hagins and one by McNeal to open the final quarter lengthened the run to 12-0 and Aris's lead to 74-59 as Milan went scoreless for more than 5 minutes, paving the way for a goodbye victory for the hosts.

Head Coaches

PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

Aris Thessaloniki

"I want to say congratulations to the players for this year's European ride, which was very dignified, very beautiful. I want to thank them from my heart: it was a nice experience for all of us. Except for a few moments, we stood with dignity and we achieved some big wins against traditional, expensive, experienced teams. There is a bitterness because basically we lost the qualification not for a victory, but for a shot, a turnover, a moment. This of course must not reduce our great performance in this year's Eurocup. I also thank the fans throughout this journey. Home and away, they were by our side."

REPESA, JASMIN

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan

"Congratulations to Aris. They played better, won fair and deserved the victory. In the first half, we played well in the offensive part. We scored 47 points, but we made mistakes on defense. In the second half, we lost our rhythm, perhaps from fatigue. We made many turnovers and we lost."

Players

MOURTOS, SPYROS

Aris Thessaloniki

“We knew that we were eliminated, but we wanted to win for us, for our pride, because we all know how bad we played in Milan. It's also a game that awakens memories of the past. The first half was an open game, with loose defenses. We said that we have to play very good defense in the second half and we did. The proof is that we allowed just 12 points in the third quarter and 9 in the fourth. We gave joy to the fans, although we didn't qualify, with a victory against a strong opponent."